Alone I Break, Part 2

"Sheesh, I forgot how long this place goes on..." Kanji snarled as he and Yu continued rushing around the second floor. The closer and closer that they grew to the end of it all, the darker and more decrepit the area became. If this was the state of Rise's soul, then they were in for an incredibly tough fight. Suddenly Kanji caught something out the corner of his eye as Yu went to turn into one of the empty rooms. What appeared to be a shadow formed from the wall behind him, quickly gaining speed to attack Yu from behind.

"SEMPAI WATCH OUT!" Kanji yelled as he ran to take it out. Without delay Yu spun around and withdrew his blade from its sheath like a samurai. The blade sliced through it like a hot knife through butter, causing it to crumple to the ground and vanish into thin air.

"Thanks Kanji, that was way too close...it seems that the closer we're getting the more it seems that the shadows are trying to stop us. That must mean we're getting close..." Yu explained, his heart beating from the attempt to kill him. Running side by side they did everything they could to get past the shadows that were now forming from the wood work. Every shadow that formed before the two of them was easily swatted, cast aside to disappear without any hesitation. Feeling like there was no end, Yu and Kanji found themselves be slowed down little by little, like have a jeep bogged down in swamp no matter how much you stomped the pedal. As each shadow attacked, Yu would make the first move, with Kanji covering the next strike, it was if they were forced to make a choreographed dance if they were going to stay alive. Finally, after pushing through wall after wall of shadows, their exhausted, beat up bodies made it to a door that seemed to be glowing with an odd aura.

Taking a moment to sit down and catch their breath, they each sat at one side of the door, like a swat team about to kick in the door for a raid. Their much needed break was cut to shreds as two figures appeared in front of them. Starting off as two sets of glowing yellow eyes, as they grew closer and closer, it was clear to them what they were about to be up against. S-Chie and S-Rise appeared before them, each of them with an incredibly disgruntled and aggravated expression.

"Why must you insist on running from me my darling Yu?! All I want to do is to love and care for you, be there when you're in need, to feed your carnal desires when you are starving for them. Is what I'm doing not truly good enough for you?!" S-Rise found herself in tears as she cried out angrily at her beloved. Yu grimaced and shook his head, ready to stall for time so he could still catch his breath.

"You drugged me...you forced me to rape Chie...then you tie me up and use me whenever you pleased? You talk about tending to my needs when in reality you are just using me! That's not what love is Rise, that's what sadistic murderers do!" Yu shouted firmly, keeping his eyes on S-Rise like a hawk on its prey. S-Rise pouted and stooped down, now shaking as she hugged her legs together.

"I was so scared that you'd run away like this...I was terrified that you would look at other girls and forget about me...I was scared of you taking the only thing I care about in life! Is it so much that I wanted to keep you safe?!" S-Rise cried back, her emotions beginning to fly off the handle like a lunatic. S-Chie groaned and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder before walking past her.

"You're such a prick Yu, making Rise cry like this...how could such a fearless leader like you sink so low?" S-Chie provoked Yu, a crooked smile on her face as she slid her hands into her sweatshirt pockets. Yu glared her down from his seat as Kanji rose to his feet, growling at them.

"Our leader does what he does to keep everyone safe, because he cares about ALL of us. Why do you want to drag him down into the mud where you are huh?! Because you can't stand the fact that he doesn't just care about you, but everyone?! That's some real selfish bullshit!" Kanji roared at S-Rise. S-Rise's tears immediately stopped with her body clenching tightly. She slowly rose her head from her legs, her eyes growing that of a murderer. First glaring at Kanji, and then Yu, she rose to her feet and moved up next to S-Chie.

"You deal with the dumb monkey, I'll take care of my Yu darling," S-Rise ordered, causing S-Chie to go into her classic fighting stance. Kanji couldn't help but to grin as he slung his chair over his shoulder, anxiously ready to fight.

"Now you're talking my language, let's do this!" Kanji growled as he charged S-Chie. She couldn't help but to smirk as she used her forearm to guard against a swing of Kanji's chair, knocking it aside. Swing by swing, she started throwing punches at Kanji, catching him in his chest as he head avoided her other fist. Kanji dropped the chair and coughed at the blow; he quickly grabbed a hold of her sweatshirt and forcefully tossed her to the ground, stomping on her stomach before kicking her away.

"I REALLY don't want to hit a girl around, especially Chie of all people. So please, cut this shit and help us help Rise!" Kanji gabbed, trying to get through to Chie within. It was a failed attempt as S-Chie kicked off the wall, flying forward with a vicious jump kick, catching Kanji in the shoulder. Kanji lost his center of gravity and hit the floor, sliding along it til he was sitting next to his chair.

"Don't make me laugh! I wouldn't even have been able to surface if it wasn't for Rise here. I'm not about to let a dumb muscle head like you tell me what I should be doing!" Chie snarled as she hopped into the air, taking a dive kick down at Kanji. Kanji whirled his chair in front of him, using it as a shield to push her off. To his surprise, her kicked managed to dent it inward greatly before being repelled. As the two fighters dueled for their lives, S-Rise walked up to Yu, who was now back on his feet.

"Rise...I don't want to hurt you...no matter what awful things you have done to me, I still care about you. You have to believe me when I say that I really do love you Rise," Yu tensed up and let his words fly as he prepared for a fight. S-Rise hesitated for a moment, taking his words into consideration before she burst into maniacal laughter, now staring Yu down with wild eyes.

"Love me or not, I won't share you with anyone!" S-Rise screamed, removing a taser from her uniform pocket. Yu clenched his teeth as started avoiding each of S-Rise's lunges, he knew that if he got hit so much as once, he was going to be done for. Yu waited into he found an opening where her hand was vulnerable, immediately hitting it hard with the side of his sword to knock the taser from her hand. Growling back at him, she immediately grabbed the blade of his sword with her bare hand and shattered it in two. Yu clenched his teeth together in a panic as he dropped the handle, now staring S-Rise down face to face with just his fists to help him. Kanji got another hold on Chie, once again throwing her to the ground as his breath grew heavy from exhaustion.

"Just stay down, there's no way you can defeat me!" Kanji laughed with confidence as she wiped her blood off of her mouth. Her expression grew fierce as glared Kanji down. Kanji and Yu felt the floor shake beneath them as Chie held herself tightly. In an instant, Chie exploded with energy, forming into her old shadow form. Sitting upon a throne of faceless students, her yellow dominatrix outfit shined with her eyes. Kanji made a nervous gulp as he stepped back from her, watching in terror as she descended off of her throne.

"Let's so how you handle this then!" S-Chie screamed as she flung her whip around, wrapping it tightly around Kanji's neck. Kanji tried to fight against it, grabbing at the part around his neck with all of his strength, but he was then whipped forward towards her, sending his body to the ground with a loud thud. Kanji held his throat and coughed loudly as S-Chie slowly approached him.

"Not so tough now are you?!" S-Chie laughed as she kicked him over. She began grinding her spiked heel into his chest, causing agonizing cries of pain to expel from Kanji's mouth. Yu shook his head in anguish as he watched Kanji suffer at S-Chie's mercy. Now knowing that there wasn't truly anything he could do to fight or to even help Kanji, there was only one option left. He immediately went for the glowing door, causing S-Rise to cry out in anger. Kanji, coughing in agony, noticed S-Rise charging Yu from behind. He used all of his strength to grab a hold of his chair at his side, and sling it across the ground. Upon releasing it from his hand, S-Chie pinned his wrist to the floor with her other heel, causing more grunts of despair to ring out from Kanji. S-Rise failed to notice the chair sliding like a torpedo and got caught at her feet, tripping her to the ground.

"This has to end now!" Yu growled as he finally got the incredibly heavy door open. S-Rise shook her head as Yu ran in, immediately jumping back onto her feet and chasing him inside. Yu stared around in complete disbelief; it was the room that he had first found himself in when Rise had kidnapped him for the first time. But unlike last time, this time there was a shadowy figure resting against the wall. It was in the shape of a seductive female but had no face, with colorful stripes sliding down her frame in a loop.

"So, you must be Yu Narukami...the one that caused the darkness in that young child's heart to surface. I too was born from her twisted desire, manifested from the nothingness of this world to assist her with her selfish ploy. I am Penance. I have been created to reach out and bring the dark feelings in ones heart to surface. Tell me child...why have you come before me?" the shadow's voice was warped and distorted with a pinch of seduction in the mix. Yu glared the figure down, clenching his fists in defiance as he approached. S-Rise charged in and grasped a hold of Yu's arm, desperately pulling him away.

"No! You can't have him! He's mine! I won't let you change the purity in his heart!" S-Rise cried with intense sadness. She kept trying to drag Yu away from the shadow before them, but her grasp on his soul had become too strong for her to pull him away.

"I just wanted you to help me, not steal the one that I love so much away!" S-Rise cried again as she attempted to charge Penance. Penance merely held her hand out, sitting out a burst of energy that threw S-Rise back into the wall of the room. Slowly, step by step, Yu continued forward into her vocal clutches.

"I have come to put an end to this madness! I have come to put an end to these shadows that have risen due to yours and Rise's desires to bring us all into despair!" Yu called out like a battle cry as he glared the shadow down. His face was full of vengeance and anger as he stopped in front of her. The shadow merely laughed at his rebellious words and shook its head.

"You are poorly mistaken. I was only created to bring the darkness out in that child's heart. It was all her doing from then on. However, if you are asking if I have the power to revert these sorrows, then I can answer you with a yes. I can indeed revert these dark feelings, but...only with an exchange of the heart," Penance's beckoning words somewhat unnerved Yu, his mind now expecting the absolute worst of what the shadow may ask. Yu took a heavy breath and released with a sigh before returning his eyes to Penance.

"What must I do to end this madness?" Yu asked firmly, with hints of desperation in his voice. Penance gave off its awkward, distorted laugh once more before turning its invisible gaze back to Yu's.

"You must take the darkness from all of your friends that have been plagued by that child's desire. You must give in, and submit to these feelings in order to make this all revert. Since I was created from that child's heart, thus I will vanish when her dark desires are taken from her. All of their hearts will be free from despair from this day forward for the rest of their lives, but only if you take them all into yourself. That is all it takes...what say you, Yu Narukami?" Penance had finally laid down its terms, holding her long, human-esque arm before him. S-Rise awoke from the impact and shook her head to pull herself together. She stared in absolute terror as Yu went to reach out his hand to hers, causing S-Rise to charge her creation once more.

"NO! DON'T!" S-Rise screamed as Yu took one last heavy sigh before placing his hand in the shadows. Rise stopped dead in her tracks and dropped to her knees as Yu gave the shadow an affirmative nod.

"Very well...then you have agreed to this contract...from now on til the end of your life, you will hold all of the darkness that has plagued these individuals, having them erased from their hearts forever. Kneel before me, Yu Narukami," Penance said with her final words. Placing her hand upon Yu's head, the room began to shake violently, dropping everyone to floor as an eruption of power flowed around Yu. All at once, as if slammed into an iron maiden, Yu gripped his heart with all of his strength, and began screaming in absolute destruction. All those that had been taken by their twisted hearts felt as if the awful feelings were nothing more than a nightmare. Yu's agonized, pained, and tortured eyes watched as Penance evaporated into pure nothingness. With everything coming to a close, the room finished shaking, leaving everyone back to their normal selves. As Rise felt her love shift from desperate to caring she looked up to see Yu; he was on his knees, hunched forward as if his body was completely drained of life. Rise ran up to Yu with tears leaking from her eyes, hugging him tightly around his waist before sobbing into his back.

"Yu...I am so sorry...I can't believe all the awful things I did to you...please...can you forgive me...?" Rise gasped over and over as her tears flowed from her eyes like water from a faucet. Yu's body shook a few times before he stood to his feet, breaking free of Rise's grasp. He slowly turned around, his eyes closed as Rise covered her face in self disgust. Her eyes filled with terror as Yu opened his eyes, their normal dull gray now shining as bright as the golden sun.

"You used me, abused me, and tortured me as I screamed for you to stop. How can I possibly forgive you for such actions?!" Yu growled as he pulled completely free of her grasp. Rise shook her head in a fright as she went to hug around his waist once more, trying to shake him free of the intense darkness that consumed his heart. Yu simply knocked her arms away, causing her to fall off to the side as if pushed by the wind. As Yu stepped out of the door, both Kanji and Chie were both sitting up, their bodies aching in pain as they turned their eyes to Yu. Yu's eerie yellow eyes glared down at the both of them in complete disgust.

"Your overwhelming fear that I caused you was unforgivable. For that, I don't want you to ever speak to me again..." Yu's sorrowful voice hit Chie's ears like a sledgehammer, causing her to hold her head in fear as he walked past. Kanji was at a complete loss of words, too afraid to ask anything as Yu proceeded onward. As Yu left their sight, they felt the surge of power that they had felt before when they fought with everyone, side by side. They all felt their persona's return to them causing them too look at each other and nod in agreement. Quickly chasing after you, they finally caught up to him as he was about to leave the dungeon, screaming out for him to come back.

"We'll destroy you, you stupid shadow!" Chie yelled loudly, provoking Yu to the point where he stopped in his tracks. Yu slowly turned around, his eyes still glowing their horrifying gold hue. He formed a disgruntled frown on his face as he gazed them all down.

"Are none of you grateful for what I have just done? BECAUSE OF YOU I AM NOW SUFFERING LIKE THIS!" Yu's voice grew a shadow's tone, making the ground shake beneath them. Keeping on their feet, Chie, Kanji and Rise continued looking him down, refusing to back down. As Chie's and Kanji's personas formed behind them, Rise walked forward, using her arms to signal the two of them to stay where they are. Yu glared in disgust as Rise walked up to him, wrapping her arms around him as he stood shaking in anger.

"Yu...just like me, you are being consumed by your shadow...do you really want to end up like I was? Someone who hated everything except for the only thing that caused the suffering? I know you're stronger than this Yu...please...be strong...I will be strong too, so you don't have to suffer alone...I love you...and I'm not going to let this calamity get in the way of that..." Rise nuzzled her teary face into his chest as she shivered and clenched onto him for dear life. Yu's body relaxed as he stared down at her. He held her head to his chest, causing her to flinch in surprise.

"Because your dark desires are a part of me, I could end up being just as you were...consumed by the desire to love til the point of possibly killing for them or...even killing them...do you believe that you could actually endure such hardships, even if it means that your life could be forfeit?" Yu growled, trying to push her away with all of his will to keep from hurting her any further. The harder that Yu tried to push her away, the tighter Rise held on, refusing to let go no matter what Yu believed to be true.

"If loving you means that I could die by your hand, then I will happily throw my life away for you..." Rise cried into his chest, catching his ears in surprise. Rise looked up into Yu's eyes as they began to flicker from gold to normal. He leaned his head forward as he pulled Rise's face from his chest. Slowly sliding his lips up to her ear, a dark smile swept his face.

"Is that the contract that you wish make with me?" Rise froze stiff as the voice of Penance mixed in with Yu's as it whispered quietly into her ear. Refusing to back down no matter what the consequences may be, she moved her ear from his mouth and pulled his face in front of her.

"Until death do us part," Rise said, as if ending a wedding vow. She then leaned forward and kisses Yu upon his lips sweetly, with his face growing perverse then dying down until he was back to normal. Pulling her lips from Yu's she saw that his eyes had returned to normal and were now gazing over her kindly.

"I love you, Rise," Yu's voice shook as he placed his forehead against Rise's. Rise sighed softly in success as she pressed hers back against his.

"And I you, forever and ever, until the bitter end," Rise said with a warm smile. His eyes looked at hers as they regained a yellowish hue, with her own eyes dimly shining it too.

The End